Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Psychotherapy Tracks in US General Psychiatry Residency Programs: A Proxy for Trends in Psychotherapy Education?

  • In Brief Report
  • Published:
Academic Psychiatry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

The authors studied the goals and design of psychotherapy tracks in the US general psychiatry residency programs and the perceived barriers to psychotherapy tracks in programs without them.

Methods

The authors emailed 226 US general psychiatry residency program directors, asking them to complete an anonymous, online, Qualtrics survey about psychotherapy training and tracks in their program.

Results

Seventy-nine programs (35%) participated. Of these, 22% (n = 17) reported having a psychotherapy track, 4% (n = 3) reported currently developing a psychotherapy track, and 74% (n = 56) reported not having a psychotherapy track. Of those without a psychotherapy track, 81% (n = 44) reported not wanting one. Time, personnel, resident interest, and funding were the most common reasons for not having a track, but programs with tracks generally reported additional personnel and funding were not needed. Most programs with a track reported being satisfied with it. A sizeable minority of reporting programs (overrepresented by those without psychotherapy tracks) did not require supervision or didactics for all three Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education required psychotherapy modalities.

Conclusions

Commonly perceived barriers to having a psychotherapy track may not be as limiting as they seem, and the diverse types of psychotherapy tracks may offer flexibility for programs seeking to design one. The finding that not all programs offer a full complement of supervision and didactics in core psychotherapy modalities is concerning for the future of psychotherapy training in residency programs. The presence of a psychotherapy track may be a proxy for the value a program places on psychotherapy education.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

References

  1. Sudak J, Goldberg D. Trends in psychotherapy training: a national survey of psychiatry residency training. Acad Psychiatry. 2012;36(5):369–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education: program requirements for residency training in psychiatry. Chicago, Ill: Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, 2000.

  3. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education: program requirements for graduate medical education in psychiatry, 2007. http://www.acgme.org/Portals/0/PDFs/400_psychiatry_RC.pdf. Last accessed April 18, 2020.

  4. Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education: program requirements for graduate medical education in psychiatry, 2019. https://www.acgme.org/Portals/0/PFAssets/ProgramRequirements/400_Psychiatry_2019.pdf?ver=2019-08-26-134127-827. Last accessed April 18, 2020.

  5. Blumenshine P, Lenet A, Havel L, Arbuckle M, Cabaniss D. Thinking outside of outpatient: underutilized settings for psychotherapy education. Acad Psychiatry. 2017;41(1):16–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Feinstein R, Yager J. Advanced psychotherapy training: psychotherapy scholars’ track, and the apprenticeship model. Acad Psychiatry. 2013;37(4):248–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Arbuckle MR, Gordon JA, Pincus HA, Oquendo MA. Bridging the gap: supporting translational research careers through an integrated research track within residency training. Acad Med. 2013;88(6):759–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Jibson MD, Hilty DM, Arlinghaus K, Ball VL, McCarthy T, Seritan AL, et al. Clinician-educator tracks for residents: three pilot programs. Acad Psychiatry. 2010;34(4):269–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA

    James I. Rim & Deborah L. Cabaniss

  2. VA Boston Healthcare System and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    David Topor

Authors
  1. James I. Rim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Deborah L. Cabaniss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David Topor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James I. Rim.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest for Dr. Rim and Dr. Topor. Dr. Cabaniss receives royalties for textbooks she has written from Wiley.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rim, J.I., Cabaniss, D.L. & Topor, D. Psychotherapy Tracks in US General Psychiatry Residency Programs: A Proxy for Trends in Psychotherapy Education?. Acad Psychiatry 44, 423–426 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-020-01245-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-020-01245-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation